England will now face Belgium on Saturday for a third-place decider, while France and Croatia will battle off for the title on Sunday.

Croatia in the World Cup

Before gaining independence in 1991, Croatian players competed as part of the Yugoslavian national team.

Croatia was readmitted to FIFA on 3 July 1992, and playing its first official matches in the against Australia in Melbourne, and was admitted into UEFA in June the following year. However, by then it was too late for them enter the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, which had already begun the year before.

The team’s pre-independence performance was not recognized by FIFA, so they entered ranking 125th. Less than a year later they had moved up to 62nd in rankings and won FIFA’s 1994 Best Mover of the Year award.

They have since appeared in 5 World Cups, the first being in France in 1998. That year they finished third, having lost their quarterfinal match against France, that same year’s champions.

Until yesterday, their first World Cup participation had been their best. But on Sunday, they will have a chance to go up against France one more time and show the world what they are made of.